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The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter
| screenplay = Karin Howard | starring = | music = Hans Zimmer Robert Folk | cinematography = David Connell | editing = | studio = CineVox Filmproduktion | distributor = Warner Bros. | released = | runtime = 89 minutes | country = West Germany | language = English | budget = | gross = $17.4 million }}The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter is a 1990 English-language German fantasy film and a sequel to The NeverEnding Story. It was directed by George T. Miller and stars Jonathan Brandis as Bastian Bux, Kenny Morrison as Atreyu, and Alexandra Johnes as the Childlike Empress. The only actor to return from the first film was Thomas Hill as Carl Conrad Coreander. The film used plot elements from Michael Ende's novel The Neverending Story (primarily the second half) but introduced a new storyline. Upon its American theatrical release in 1991, the Bugs Bunny animated short "Box-Office Bunny" was shown before the film. This short was also included on the VHS and LaserDisc release later that year. Plot Bastian Balthazar Bux seeks to join his school's swimming team, but his ability to jump off a diving board is marred by his acrophobia. He revisits Carl Conrad Coreander's antiquarian bookstore to seek advice on courage, where he rediscovers the Neverending Story and hears the Childlike Empress call out to him for aid. Bastian takes the book home while the Auryn amulet magically comes off the book cover which Bastian takes and is summoned to Fantasia, where he meets a bird-like creature named Nimbly and is reunited with Atreyu. After the group encounters and escapes from giants, Bastian comes to understand that a force called "Emptiness" is spreading across Fantasia. This force has been brought about by the evil sorceress Xayide, who seeks to seize power over Fantasia. To hinder Bastian's quest, Xayide's inventor develops an apparatus that strips Bastian of a memory each time he uses the Auryn amulet to make a wish. Nimbly was sent as a spy to persuade Bastian to make wishes until he is unable to remember why he came to Fantasia. Bastian and Atreyu seek out and capture Xayide. She seems to abandon her quest for power and agrees to lead the two to the Childlike Empress. During the travel to the Empress's castle, Xayide tricks Bastian into believing that his friends will turn against him and manages to get him to wish for a series of ridiculous wishes. It also becomes obvious to Atreyu that they are being led aimlessly. Meanwhile, Bastian's father Barney has noticed his son's disappearance. He finds the Neverending Story in Bastian's room and sees a sticker on the front cover listing the bookstore's address. Barney rushes to confront Mr. Coreander, who simply tells him that he will find the answers to his son's whereabouts inside the book. Returning later with a police officer, Barney is shocked to see the bookstore abandoned. Eventually, Barney reads the book and is surprised to see his son's exploits in Fantasia being written by the book itself and that he is mentioned within. Atreyu determines what Xayide is planning, while Bastian is fully persuaded that Atreyu has turned on him. In a struggle between the two, Atreyu is knocked over a cliff and falls to his death. Returning to Xayide, Bastian discovers the apparatus for himself and learns that he only has two memories left, consisting of his mother and father. Bastian uses his penultimate memory of his mother to wish Atreyu back to life. Xayide tries to force Bastian to use his last wish to return home. Bastian agrees to do so, but wishes for the sorceress "to have a heart" instead. This fills Xayide with emotion, negating the Emptiness within her and which she controls. Overcome with compassion, Xayide explodes in a blast of light, and Fantasia is restored. Having been freed, the Childlike Empress thanks Bastian for his help while Bastian gives her the Auryn amulet and shows him the way home: a cliff overlooking a waterfall to help Bastian overcome his fear of heights. Encouraged by Barney and Atreyu, Bastian jumps off and returns home safely while the Auryn amulet magically goes back onto the book cover. Cast * Jonathan Brandis as Bastian Balthazar Bux * Kenny Morrison as Atreyu * Clarissa Burt as Xayide * John Wesley Shipp as Barney Bux (Bastian's father) * Alexandra Johnes as Childlike Empress * Thomas Hill as Carl Conrad Coreander * Donald Arthur (voice) as Falkor * Martin Umbach as Nimbly * Noah Hathaway (uncredited archival footage) as Atreyu Production Producer declared he always intended to make a trilogy out of Michael Ende's The Neverending Story, finding the book "just too rich to leave at one film". However, his plans to follow the original film, which only covers half of the novel, had to be postponed as Ende sued Geissler and the production company, insisting that he have a say in any future film treatments of his work. As soon as the legal problems were solved, Geissler started a year-long pre-production working with conceptual artist Ludwig Angerer, to ensure the film's design and technical ambitions would fit into a lower budget, along with averting the problems the first film faced with its effects. Geissler also hired screenwriter Karin Howard, who contributed 14 drafts until the final screenplay, which draws inspiration from most chapters in the second half of Ende's novel. Geissler opted to invite a director only when the development was finished, as he considered effects-heavy productions "burn a director out real fast when they're in on a picture from the earliest pre-production stages. What I wanted was for the director to come in fresh and not already worn out and to be able to put his ideas on an already solid structure". He eventually brought in the American George T. Miller, who was a fan of the original film. Over 600 children were auditioned, given the original actors were too old for their roles. In contrast to The NeverEnding Story relying on blue screen and scale model creatures, The Next Chapter would have more life-sized model work and matte paintings. Principal photography begun in early 1990 at Bavaria Film near Munich. The original plan was to build three separate stages, having first and second unit shooting simultaneously on the first two-stage and have the effects done on the third. But the studio decided not to build the third stage at the last minute, forcing production to shoot first and second unit on the same stage at the same time. As labour rules regarding child actors limited their working schedules, Miller decided to only rehearse scenes once before filming, and maximized the time with the children on set by shooting with as many as three cameras on every scene. This created a problem as Miller's fear of falling late wound up making the film so ahead of schedule the effects team had not completed the necessary work for later scenes. Soundtrack Reception The film has a 14% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on seven reviews; the average critics' rating is 3.7/10. Richard Harrington of The Washington Post wrote, "Unlike its predecessor, there are few effects in II worthy of being called special, and events unfold with uniform flatness. Silver City feels like Diet Oz, the sorceress's castle is more hinted at than realized and several new creatures are right out of late-night comedy sketches". Chris Hicks, writing for the Deseret News, was more kind in his review, writing that it would be enjoyable to children, whereas the first film was enjoyable to the entire family. The film grossed $17,373,527 in the United States, but was a bigger success in its native Germany, with 3,231,527 admissions, giving it the seventh-highest attendance of the year and making it one of the two German films to achieve domestic success in 1990, along with Werner – Beinhart! References External links * * * Category:1990 films Category:1990s fantasy adventure films Category:1990s sequel films Category:American films Category:American children's adventure films Category:American children's fantasy films Category:American fantasy adventure films Category:American sequel films Category:German children's films Category:German fantasy adventure films Category:German films Category:German sequel films Category:Films about giants Category:English-language films Category:Films about dragons Category:Films about wish fulfillment Category:Films directed by George T. Miller Category:Films featuring puppetry Category:Films scored by Robert Folk Category:Films shot in Argentina Category:High fantasy films Category:The NeverEnding Story (film series) Category:Warner Bros. films Category:Films about witchcraft Category:Works based on The Neverending Story Category:Musicals by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock Category:Film scores by Giorgio Moroder Category:Film scores by Hans Zimmer Category:Film scores by Shirley Walker Category:Warner Bros. Family Entertainment films